FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical connector for mounting on a printed circuit board, including contact elements merging into connection pins to be press-fitted into assigned press-fit holes in the printed circuit board.
Such electrical connectors are known in a multiplicity of embodiments and require no further description. On one hand, they are distinguished by the fact that they can be connected simply by press-fitting the connection pins thereof into the assigned press-fit holes on the printed circuit board. In other words, they can be electrically and mechanically connected to the printed circuit board in a rapid and simple manner. On the other hand, such electrical connectors cannot be constructed as small as is possible in the case of connectors which can be mounted differently on the printed circuit board. The size and the mutual distances between the press-fit holes on the printed circuit board are primarily responsible for the following difficulties. Production problems stand in the way of reducing the size of the press-fit holes (small holes cannot be electroplated very well with a large depth). Obstacles to reducing the mutual distances between the press-fit holes are a consequently reduced mechanical strength of the printed circuit board and a necessity of routing electrical conductor tracks in interspaces between the press-fit holes.
Miniaturization of circuit boards containing electrical connectors is limited. The reduction in physical strength caused by having too many holes through the board limits miniaturization. In addition, the necessity of routing electrical conductor tracks in interspaces between the press-fit holes also limits the minimum size of the circuit boards. In turn, the limited minimum size of circuit boards limits the minimum size of devices employing these circuit boars. The limit to miniaturization of the size of devices is considerable in light of industrial goals to reduce size while increasing performance.